Autumnal Fire
by silversun07
Summary: A walk in the woods turns into something so much more. [Tyzula Week 2015]
1. Luck

**Autumnal Fire**

 _By Nikkel_

© to Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Koneitzko, and Nickelodeon Studios

* * *

In honor of Tyzula Week 2015

* * *

"I love days like these!" Ty Lee exclaimed, twirling on the dirt path ahead of Azula. "Fall is my _favorite_ season!"

" _Every_ season is your favorite season," Azula clipped in response, dusting a leaf from her shoulder. All around them, a cool gust whisked through the trees, releasing a dazzling array of gold, orange, and scarlet, and there Ty Lee was, dancing among them like it was the limelight.

Azula sighed, wondering how much longer they would be going on their "adventure" as Ty Lee called it. She needed to get back to her dorm and study. It may have been the beginning of the school year, and exams were still weeks away, but that didn't mean that she had time to goof off. Her father certainly wouldn't approve of such foolishness.

"Well, yeah, but none of the other seasons have colors like this one!" Ty Lee exclaimed, doubled-over, and picked up a bundle of leaves. She marched back over to Azula. "Look at all of them!"

She tossed the leaves right in Azula's face. Azula winced and frowned, not at all amused.

"They're _leaves_. It's not like they're anything special," Azula replied, and tromped right over them, crunching underneath her boots.

"Well, _I_ think they're special," Ty Lee pouted, and picked up a maple leaf the size of her face. The center was a pale green radiating yellow into red, and she looked between the sinuses at the Princess. "See? This one has _all_ the colors."

Azula watched as Ty Lee tucked the leaf into the bag on her hip, already stuffed with acorns, sticks, rocks, and a wild eagle-hawk feather. She bent down and picked up another maple leaf, smaller than many of the others, and a deep shade of mulberry purple.

"How often do you get to see _purple_ leaves, Azula? _Purple_!"

Azula crossed her arms. "All right, you have a point. _Some_ of the leaves are unique."

"No, _all_ of them are," Ty Lee corrected, tucking the purple leaf into her bag with the others. She jogged to close the distance between them. "I'm _so_ happy we got to see them change this year. I think we're lucky."

"Yes, that's true," Azula said with a knowing smirk. Without warning, Ty Lee slipped her chilly fingers into Azula's warm hand. She tried to tug away, but Ty Lee held firm. "You should have brought gloves if you were going to get cold."

"But you're hand is _perfectly warm_."

"Fine, but I'm letting go when we get back."

"Okay," Ty Lee replied, stopped short, and bent over to pick up a bright crimson oak leaf, grinning. "Azula, look at this one!"

" _Ty Lee_ , if you make me look at _one more leaf_ , I'll burn this whole forest down."

"But what about this one? And this one? And this one, and this one, and— _oof_!"

Azula shoved Ty Lee into the ditch piled high with dead leaves, her mirthless laugh rising above them. Ty Lee groaned and climbed out of the pile, leaves clinging to her braid and mud staining her uniform.

"I think fall is my favorite season, too," Azula concluded, and tucked her hands into her pockets this time, before Ty Lee could grab them and make her heart pound, her breath shallow, her head spin, and do all of these silly things that a young woman's body did.

 _But only because I'm falling for you._


	2. Kittens

_But only because I'm falling for you._

No. No, Princess Azula does _not_ fall for anyone or anything. She is independent of these frivolous feelings, or so her father instructs her, and so they must be true. The beating in her chest is a typical reaction of a person her age. Royal blood does not permit her to be smitten with such foolish—

"Azula! Did you hear that?" Ty Lee exclaimed with a gasp in the middle of the trail.

Azula cocked a brow. "What are you—"

" _Ssh_! Listen!"

Azula sighed, hearing nothing out of the ordinary. Rustling leaves, creaking tree branches, cawing ravens, and given the darkening sky, she wondered when the bell would toll for curfew back at the Academy. With Ty Lee stopping and gasping and babbling about every stupid leaf she found, Azula began to wonder if she would ever get back to studying at all.

And then, she heard it: a soft, nearby mewling. She watched as Ty Lee bolted into the bushes, shuffled around, squealed, and emerged with three tiny kittens bundled up in her arms. Her twinkling, bulging eyes said it all.

"Absolutely not," Azula declared.

"But… But they're out here all alone! They're _so_ scared! They don't have a mommy or daddy to protect them from the wolf-bats!" Ty Lee cried, snuggling them even closer to her chest. "Please, Azula? I promise I'll take care of them!"

" _Where_? You know the Academy doesn't allow pets."

"Yeah, but that's why they'll stay in your room!"

Azula's frown hardened. " _Excuse me_?"

"You're the Princess, you can do whatever you want! They can't say no to you. _Please_? And, and, and, I'll be there all the time to take care of them. I'll feed them and bathe them and play with them, and you can help me name them!"

"We're not keeping them."

Regardless, Ty Lee shoved an all-black kitten with bright gold eyes into Azula's arms. Startled, Azula grabbed it and held it out at arm's length by the back of the neck.

"You've gotta help me carry them back! I can only carry two," Ty Lee explained. She unbuttoned her vest and shoved a kitten into each side, and buttoned up again, creating the illusion of a young woman with large breasts. "See? Now put that one in your chest!"

"I'm not going to—"

Suddenly, Ty Lee grabbed the kitten in her hands and was stuffing it down her shirt. Azula cringed as the kitten's claws poked into her skin, Ty Lee's apricot perfume washing over her, and she stumbled backwards instead of incinerating her into ashes.

"I don't care what you say, Azula, they're coming home with us," Ty Lee pouted with defiance, jutting her fists on her hips. For a moment, her serious look was almost convincing, when one of the kitten's white-tipped tails poked out of her collar.

Azula sighed. As much as she hated to think about it, she was going to have to rely on Mai as back-up for this one.


	3. Daycare

Mai crossed her arms in the doorway. "What do you want, Azula?"

"Close the door," Azula replied, sitting still with her back straight on the four-poster bed, perhaps a little _too_ still. Ty Lee wiggled alongside her, giggling and blushing hard, tapping her toes together. The door clicked closed behind Mai, and Azula bolted to her feet, dumping out something small, furry, and black onto the floor. Ty Lee squealed and threw open her vest, two more fur balls tumbling out.

Mai's normally narrowed eyes widened to the size of saucers. "You two _didn't_."

"But we _did_!" Ty Lee yelled, pouncing onto the floor and rolling around with the three kittens, who began to jump all over her. One of them began to nibble at her fingertips. "Hey! No biting, Miss Muki!"

"And you've already _named_ them?"

"Of course! This other one is Miss Wuki," Ty Lee explained, sitting up and picking up a second kitten, also entirely black, but with little white socks on her paws and bright green eyes. She pointed at the third kitten that began to weave and out of Azula's legs. "And Azula's gonna name that one!"

"No, I'm not," Azula clarified, standing and kicking the cat out of the way. "Mai, you _have_ to tell her that we can't keep them."

Mai snorted. "Why do _I_ have to? They're in _your_ room."

"Because I'm not going to run a kitten daycare in here, and Ty Lee isn't giving me a choice."

" _How_? They're just kittens, Azula," Mai replied, and picked up the black kitten, who curled up in her arms. Mai stroked his back and the little thing began to purr. At the same time, she leaned back and unleashed a powerful sneeze, sending the kitten scattering. She sniffled. "You're stuck with them. I'm leaving."

Azula scowled. "Traitor."

Mai left as quickly as she had come. The black kitten hopped into Azula's lap again and batted at the tie dangling around her neck. Azula picked him up and glared into his twinkling gold eyes.

"That's what I'll call you. _Traitor_. Because you _clearly_ can't be trusted."

"Azula! You can't name a kitten that!"

"You're forcing me to keep a mangy animal against my will _and_ abusing my power," Azula replied. "I can name the _infernal creature_ as I please. Besides, you already told me I could."

She dropped the kitten again and crossed her arms to keep him from jumping in her lap. Despite that, he jumped up again, flipped over onto his back, and meowed. Azula glared at him. He hadn't only turned Mai against her, but was the reason Ty Lee would be in her room _all the time_ now. She had hoped she could study in peace and silence her beating heart, but it was clear that now it was no longer the case.

She would have to endure Ty Lee's infectious laugh and sparkling eyes, and hope that she would not set the room on fire.


	4. Theft

A loud, agonizing yowling made Azula startle awake so hard, the papers on her desk fluttered to the floor as she bolted back in her seat. Soon, two more yowls joined the first, all three of the kittens screaming their little heads off.

"Ty Lee! Wake up!" Azula hissed, shaking the girl's shoulder as she lay fast asleep in Azula's bed for the fourth night in a row. "Ty Lee, _wake up_!"

"What is it?" Ty Lee mumbled, sitting up and rubbing an eye.

"Your _animals_ won't shut up," Azula replied as a wailing Traitor tried to crawl up her pant leg. "And they won't leave me alone!"

"Oh," Ty Lee said as Muki and Wuki pounced on her chest, yowling in her face. "Hey! I think I know what's wrong. You're hungry, aren't you?"

"Good, go feed them like you said you would," Azula replied, returning to sit at her desk. Studying. Always studying.

"But I can't, Azula!"

Azula cringed. "And why _not_?"

"I've been feeding them the milk from the cartons we get at meal times, but I forgot to get one at dinner!"

"Well, then I suppose they're just going to have to starve."

"No! That would be horrible!" Ty Lee gasped, and if possible, the kittens collectively howled even louder and higher than Azula thought they were capable of. "We have to get them something or else they'll die!"

"Then what do you _suggest_ , Ty Lee? Breaking into the kitchen and stealing some milk for them?"

Ty Lee grinned. "Oh, Azula, you're the smartest person ever! C'mon, let's go!"

"I was _joking_ , Ty Lee."

"No, you weren't," Ty Lee replied, jumping up and now tugging at her arm. "You never joke around."

"It's called _sarcasm_ ," Azula said with a roll of her eyes, but complied. "All right. Now, if we do sneak into the kitchen, _you_ have to be _quiet_. Got it?"

Ty Lee grinned and saluted her. "I'll be the quietest of the quiet!"

Only half-convinced, the two girls slipped out of their midnight dorm and into the Academy hallway, torches illuminating the tall, wooden corridor in a gentle orange glow. A watchman in white at the end of the hallway had her back turned, and they stole down the plush rug and around the corner, sneaking between the shadows. The ability to walk like silhouettes was nothing new to them; they had practiced for years around the royal palace.

Three flights of stairs and behind many marble busts later, they arrived at their destination. Azula peeked inside the mahogany door of the kitchen first, scanning for signs of the chef, but she was fast asleep in her quarters.

"I'll go get it," Azula whispered. "You keep watch."

"Okay," Ty Lee whispered back as Azula vanished inside. Ty Lee held her breath in her absence, heart pounding out of her chest. They could get into _so much trouble_ if—

 **CRASH.**

" _Azula!"_ Ty Lee hissed, abandoning her post and throwing open the kitchen door. "What's going—"

"Run!" Azula exclaimed, a jumble of milk cartons and other supplies in her arms, and shoved them into Ty Lee's. Suddenly, a ravenous and angry cat-gator was snarling and snapping at their tails, and Ty Lee shrieked, snatching up whatever belongings Azula had dropped and bolting back up the staircase.

Neither girl was sure how they managed to get back to Azula's room without getting caught.


	5. Wine

Ty Lee patted all three kittens on the head. "There you go, my sweet sugar cakes. All fed!"

Muki and Wuki mewled with delight as Traitor continued lapping milk from the bowl that was three times the size of him. Azula sighed and rolled her eyes, and landed on the bundle of stolen goods lumped into a pile on the floor. A white label on a dark green bottle caught her eye, and she plucked it out, curious.

"What's that, Azula?" Ty Lee asked, stroking a sleeping kitten in her lap.

"I'm not sure," Azula replied, tipping the bottle in the candlelight to examine the label. "The lettering's faded, so I'll assume it's old. I grabbed it in the dark because I thought it was a milk bottle."

She uncorked the top with a muffled pop. She sniffed the opening, and passed it to Ty Lee.

"It's not milk, but you drink it first," Azula said after careful investigation. She shoved the bottle into Ty Lee's hands. "It could be poison."

" _Me_? Why do I have to do it?"

"Because I would be better at hiding your dead body, and nobody wants a dead Princess."

"Ugh, okay," Ty Lee groaned, and tipped the bottle up to her lips, swallowing a long gulp. Azula watched with studious eyes as Ty Lee gulped again. Finally, she set the bottle back down, her upper lip stained purple. "It's juice!"

" _Juice_?" Azula replied. "Give me that."

She tipped the bottle back and gulped once. It was, indeed, juice. Grape juice, but it tasted... different. Azula shrugged.

"It's not bad," she declared with another sip.

" _I_ think it's delicious," Ty Lee replied as Azula passed her the bottle again. "It makes me feel all warm and fuz- _hic!_ -zy like a kitten!"

Ty Lee grabbed Traitor in her lap, flopped onto her back, and dropped him on her face in a mad fit of giggles. Azula chuckled, her face feeling warm, but she wasn't sure if it was from the "juice" or not. Regardless, it did not take them long to polish the bottle off and for Ty Lee to drag Azula down to the carpet with her, rolling in kittens.

At this moment, they became very, very close. Enough for Azula's head to spin from Ty Lee's apricot perfume and enough for Ty Lee to feel the surge of heat from Azula's beating heart. Almost naturally, their hands found each other's hips and their gilded, drunken eyes met.

"You're _really_ pretty," Ty Lee slurred, slumping further into the embrace. "Prettier than all the kitties!"

"Of course I am," Azula slurred right back with a lopsided grin. "And that's why you should kiss me."

"Okay."

And sweet, wine red lips met.


	6. Denial

Ty Lee groaned and rolled over in bed. She didn't remember falling asleep, head throbbing, and tongue as thick as a cotton ball. She tugged the warm, downy blankets over her head to block out the sharp, grey dawn flooding in through the windows.

Wait a minute.

This wasn't her bed!

Ty Lee gasped as she sat up, the room spinning, but her eyes focused on Azula, gazing out the window with her arms crossed. At the same time, the room was oddly quiet, absent of sleepy kitten snoring and morning meows.

"What's going on, 'Zula?" she mumbled. "Where... Where's Traitor? And Muki and Wuki?"

"They're gone," Azula replied with prim coldness, unmoving. "I gave them away to the headmaster this morning."

" _What_? Why would you do that?" Ty Lee exclaimed, leaping out of bed. "I told you I could take care of them!"

"They were becoming too much trouble," Azula snapped back.

"But you didn't have to give them away! I loved them!" Ty Lee cried, tears dripping down her cheeks, hurt and confused and furious. "Did you at least see if the headmaster gave them a good home?"

"They're animals, Ty Lee. They'll be _fine_."

"You... I can't... You're so mean, Azula! I'm never talking to you ever ever again!" Ty Lee shouted with a stomp of her foot, and then burst into full-blown tears, fleeing into the warmth and safety of her own room as Azula clenched her teeth.

She did what she had to do for the sake of her nation. Her father would never tolerate such weakness, such vulnerability a kiss could convey. Azula knew that was the reason he exiled her mother, and though the feelings were only budding, Azula knew she had set fire to them. She wouldn't allow Ty Lee to be exiled.

Yet, all of her father's thoughts meant nothing compared to the anger at herself. She had to swallow it, internalize it, and throw Ty Lee's tears and the homeless kittens into the back of her mind. She hadn't even bothered to come up with a clever lie to goad the girl over for a few days.

When Azula looked out the window, she now saw that all the leaves on the trees were gone.

Fallen.

Dead.


	7. Beauty

" _It was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing and there's this electricity in the air… That's the day I realized that there was this entire life behind things… I feel like I can't take it, and my heart is just going to cave in." –Ricky Fitts, from American Beauty_

* * *

Weeks passed, and Ty Lee had yet to acknowledge anything Azula did or had to say.

The girl that had once blushed when the Princess entered a room now made it a point to look out the window upon entry. Instead of sitting with her and Mai their regular dining table, she carried her tray over to a corner to be alone. Azula even noticed how Ty Lee would keep as far away from her as she could in classrooms and corridors, as if she were some sort of hideous, vile creature. No longer was there a girl dancing in her shadow to hang on every word.

This type of behavior, in Azula's eyes, needed to end.

Ty Lee looked up from her homework to a sharp knock on the door. Without answering, she knew it was Azula. Half of her wanted to scream the Princess to go away. The other half wanted to keep giving her the cold shoulder. And then, some part of her was making her stand and open the door.

"What do you want?" Ty Lee pouted. "I'm studying."

"You never study," Azula chastised underneath her breath. She found it hard to meet Ty Lee's darkened, brown eyes, still swirling with anger and sadness. For some bizarre reason, they were far more intimidating than her father's most treacherous glare. Perhaps it was because that was a look she had practiced in the mirror with her own golden eyes.

"Well, I'm studying now, and if you don't have anything else to say, you can leave," Ty Lee said.

"No, wait," Azula replied, stepping more into the doorway without invitation, her hand catching the door before it could close. "I wanted to… I don't know, apologize? It's been weeks since we've spoken."

"So?"

"So, I…"

And there was a long, heavy pause of Azula actually struggling with her words. The girl that could ace a speech clean off the cuff, the girl that could whip out an essay in record time, and the girl that never failed to persuade a crowd now fumbled to say the words she needed to say to keep a friend.

"I lied," she finally said in an exhale.

Ty Lee blinked. That was no surprise.

"Here." Azula shoved three pieces of paper into Ty Lee's hands. She accepted them, but said nothing. "They're veterinary records of the kittens. I took the liberty of taking them back from the headmaster and sending them to your family back home, where they can afford to feed and take care of them. I wanted you to know—"

But Azula's words were cut off in a whole-bodied, lung-crushing hug. Azula stumbled back in surprise.

"I know," Ty Lee replied before Azula could finish. "And… I'm sorry, too."

Another pause, their faces close together, as they had been the other night. For a moment, Ty Lee wondered if they were going to kiss again, when Azula took a step back and shoved something else into Ty Lee's arms.

"What's this?" she said, surprised. It was a small, colorful package wrapped in gold.

"Open it."

Ty Lee did, tossing the wrapping paper aside and opening the box to reveal a pair of bright pink, woolen mittens. "Oh. These are… nice?"

"Put them on."

"Why?"

Azula rolled her eyes, as if the answer was obvious. "So your hands don't get cold. The first snow is falling, and I assumed you would want to go for a walk."

Ty Lee grinned, grinned for the first time in weeks, and shoved the mittens onto her hands. "Winter is my _favorite_ season, Azula! Let's go!"

She jumped in delight, kissed Azula on the cheek, and sprinted down the hallway. Azula found her feet frozen in place, her face hot with blush. It was not often the Princess was caught off guard. Ty Lee paused before throwing open the door to the snowy wonderland beyond, and instead skipped back to Azula's side to hold her hand, despite the gloves.

"We'll go together," Ty Lee decided with a smile.

Azula smirked. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

 _Once more, Happy Tyzula Week 2015! Thank you for reading!_


End file.
